Oil rose 3% and climbed for the third time in a row

The US oil inventories rose 7.8 million barrels in the week to December 9according to market sources citing data from the American Petroleum Institute (API)while analysts polled by Reuters had expected a slump in 3.6 million barrels. The government data will be published this afternoon.

Inventory data clouded the bullish sentiment from the previous sessionbased on the hopes of a revival of Chinese demand with the easing of restrictions due to COVID-19 and a weakening of the dollar after the data that showed a moderation of inflation in the United States.

The price jump came after the International Energy Agency (IEA) said oil prices will rise as sanctions affect normal Russian crude supplies and demand exceeds earlier forecasts.

The Paris-based IEA report noted that “although lower oil prices bring relief to consumers facing rising inflation, The full impact of the embargoes on Russian crude supplies and products remains to be seen.”

“As we move into the winter months and towards a tighter oil balance in the second quarter, another price rally cannot be ruled out.”

However, prices lost some of their gains after the Fed raised its benchmark rate by 50 basis points.

Investors turned away from risky assets after the central bank reiterated that US inflation remains high and higher rate hikes are not ruled out in the future.

For his part, hehe US Energy Information Agency reported that “US commercial oil inventories, excluding Strategic Petroleum Reservesincreased by 10.2 million barrels compared to the previous week and totaled 424.1 million barrels, 6% below the average of the last five years for this time of year.”

Meanwhile, total motor gasoline stocks increased by 4.5 million barrels since last week and are 3% below the five-year average for this time of year.